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(c)1990 Nintendo
Cartridge SHVC-FZ
Racing game
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Released in America as
F ZERO
( SNSP-FZ-USA )
( SNS-FZ-USA-1 )
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Released in Europe as
F ZERO
( SNSP-FX-### )
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F-Zero is a fast and futuristic hover-craft racing game by
Nintendo and was one of the launch title for the American
Super Nintendo system. The game takes place in the 26th century,
humans and aliens now share the universe and seek for new kind of
entertainments. High-speed races called F-Zero were created
for that matter and became increasingly popular. Four pilots and their
respective hover-craft are available from the start, each one of them
balancing out Power, Speed and acceleration .The game
counts not less than fifteen tracks all spreaded around nine areas such as
Myûto Shiti (Mute City), Biggu Burû (Big Blue), Sando Ôshan (Sand Ocean),
Desu Uindo (Death Wind), Sairensu (Silence),
Howato Rando (White Land) and Pôto Taun (Port Town),
Tracks are also group into three leagues (Knight, Queen and King)
with various difficulty levels. More than racing their vehicules in an effort
to cross the finish line, players also have to take care of land mines spreaded
around the tracks, holes or powerful magnets that dramatically affect their driving.
Thankfully, turbo-boosts are available and can be used to avoid some
of those hazards. A power shield bar is constantly displayed on the screen
and will decrease as the vehicule gets hit or goes out of the track.
The only way to refill it is to drive over special pit-stop areas on the
track which will slowly regenerate the precious magnetic field. The game
counts many surprises, such at the strong wind blowing on Death Wind,
split ways or the super-start trick to get a special boost at the start of
every race.
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F-Zero was one of the first game to use the excellent Mode 7,
native hardware feature included with the Super Famicom and allowing
incredible real-time sprite deformation effects. It came out in 1990 in Japan
and was produced by Shigeru Miyamoto and directed by Kazunobu Shimizu.
Interestingly, a sequel was actually released for the Satellaview in 1997
and called BS F-Zero 2. No cartridge version of this game exist for that matter.
The same applies for later editions called BS F-Zero Ace League,
BS F-Zero Knight League, BS F-Zero King League,
BS F-Zero Queen League.
The game also introduced Captain Falcon (pictured on the left). The
Super Famicom game even comes with a eight pages comic book
story included at the end of the game's documentation. The style of the
drawing is really unusual for a Japanese game and looks more
like an American comic book. I wonder if Nintendo didn't do that
on purpose to catch a wider audience and make the game a bit more US
and Europe 'friendly'.
A sequel of F Zero came out in 1998 for the
Nintendo 64 and called F-Zero X. Then
F-Zero: Maximum Velocity (GameBoyAdvance, 2001) and
F-Zero: GP Legend (GameBoyAdvance, 2003) followed.
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LK
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Add your Pov here !
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P
O
V
s
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F-Zero is simply amazing. Great graphics and a fast and flawless
animation without any slowdowns. The game certainly offers some of the most
amazing Mode 7 action ever made. The game has incredible controls
and makes great use of the shoulder buttons. Like with Mario Karts,
F-Zero is easy to get into and beginners as novices will enjoy every single race equally.
The game also has a lot of replay values with tons of secrets to discover.
F-Zero is, once again, Nintendo at its finest.
I only wished Captain Falcon didn't look that goofy...
It looks a bit aged compared to todays racers (especially the bad
anti-aliasing going on in the distance) but the game has kept
its incredible feeling of speed and offers an amazing gameplay.
A great title.
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